“I’ve never held up a bank before. I wouldn’t have any idea how one would go about doing such a thing.”
“Hell, there ain’t nothin’ to it,” Pettigrew said. “All we got to do is keep a few men posted outside while the rest of us go inside and tell the teller to empty the safe.”
Malcolm drummed his fingers on the top of the table for a moment. “How much money is one likely to get in such a thing?”
“In a town like this, if we didn’t come away with ten thousand dollars I’d be some surprised,” Pettigrew said.
“Ten thousand dollars?”
“At least.”
“If we hold up the bank, we will have to make a rapid exit from town, will we not?”
Pettigrew chuckled. “Only if you don’t want to get strung up,” he said.
“All right, I’ll go along with it on one condition. We came here to find MacCallister. If we are required to make a hasty exit, we are not likely to find out anything about him. I think we should make sufficient inquiries to satisfy our quest before we engage in anything like robbing a bank.”
“That ain’t goin’ to be no problem,” Pettigrew said. “We’re goin’ to have to check out the bank first anyway. Goin’ into a bank to hold it up before you know what you are gettin’ yourself into ain’t that smart of a move anyhow.”
“Ten thousand dollars,” Malcolm said. He smiled. “All right, gentlemen, you may consider me a participant in this endeavor.”
It was early afternoon by the time the two wagons arrived at the place Duff had chosen to build his cabin. As there were two men on each wagon, it did not take long for Duff, Falcon, and the four freight men to unload all the material. Less than an hour after they arrived, all the lumber, tools, and furnishings were lying on the ground near the staked-out area for the cabin, and the wagons, empty now, were heading back to Chugwater.
Both Falcon and Duff had done building before, so they worked well together, getting the floor down. After the floor was down, they placed the support posts at the four corners, then additional posts between the corners until, finally, they had the basic part of the house framed up. By that time it was dark, so they spent one more night under the stars, though they promised each other that by the next night they would be inside.
The next morning they had the roof trusses up by mid morning, and two of the walls closed in by noon.
“Here’s an idea,” Duff posed. “The floor is down. Let’s move all this stuff in now and finish building around it.”
“Good idea,” Falcon replied. “Where do you want the stove? We’ll need to know so we know where to vent the chimney through.”
“Right here, right in the middle,” Duff said. “I believe this to be the most efficient location for providing heat this winter.”
“You are probably right,” Falcon said.
The stove was very heavy, but both Duff and Falcon were strong men and as all the walls had not been erected, they did not have too much difficulty in getting the stove in position.
Once everything was inside, they resumed work on building the cabin. As they had promised each other, they spent the night inside, throwing their bedrolls out on the floor. They were finished with everything but the porch. The next morning, they added the porch.
“Now, Duff, you have a ranch,” Falcon said as the two men sat on the front porch, eating a meal of bacon and fry-bread (Falcon showed Duff how to make it), and drinking coffee. “What are you going to name it?”
“I have been giving that some thought,” Duff said. “I think I will call it Sky Meadow.”
“An outstanding name,” Falcon said. “Yes, I think it fits the place.”
“However, it is my understanding that in order to be a rancher one must have livestock,” Duff said. “And as you may have noticed”—Duff took in the wide expanse of his property with a sweep of his hand—“I have no livestock.”
“Ahh, what do you want a bunch of cows for anyway? They are ignorant brutes and they just tie you down,” Falcon said.
Duff laughed. “Perhaps you have a point. But one can scarcely be a rancher without livestock. How am I to acquire the cattle I shall need?”
“Don’t worry about it. I can lend you enough money to get started,” Falcon said. “You can pay me back when you can.”
“You have already been too generous with your time, Falcon. I have no intention of making a demand on your finances as well.”
“Cousin, I don’t want you to take this wrong because it isn’t that you are not trustworthy,” Falcon said, “but I don’t think you are going to find a bank that will lend you the money. If you are indeed going to start ranching you will, as you have pointed out, need cattle, and in order to buy cattle you will need money. Where else will you get it, if not from me?”
“Good question. However, there may be a solution, if . . .” Duff paused in mid-sentence, held up his finger and smiled at Falcon.
“If there is gold in the mine,” Falcon said, completing the sentence for him. “You do know that it is highly unlikely that there is really anything there. It is probably all just a story and we’ll just be wasting our time.”
“Exactly. Shall we go have a look?”
Falcon chuckled. “Yeah, but we had better take a lantern,” Falcon said. “You don’t have to go very far down into one of those things before it gets so dark you can’t see your hand in front of your face.”
